#so I played MLB The Show and yelled at the TV instead

[sociallyawkwardsailor]

Unreasonably grumpy about the postal service taking its sweet time getting my package from Atlanta to its destination 2 hours away, so now I can’t get my safety razor until Monday, which means I could not shave like Sea Duke on his birthday or this weekend.

I did pass my PRT though so it hasn’t been a total waste of the day.

#to be fair I get grumpy on his birthday anyway #it's a weird manifestation of anger I can't place a source for #I didn't even drink any Pusser's Rum even though I brought my bottle #I wanted to but nobody else was celebrating and I am not wasting my rum #so I played MLB The Show and yelled at the TV instead

[megaphonemonday]

the fire went wild

dothething asked, as a response to just like a ring of fire, when Mike realized his feelings. I personally think the show did a pretty good job of tracking Mike’s feelings for Ginny, so consider this a 4+1 times he should’ve realized something.

read on ao3

catching your lollipop fast ball

Another perfect screwball landed squarely in Mike’s mitt. He couldn’t help but be impressed, not that he really wanted to show it. Couldn't let the rookie get too full of herself, now could he? So, he snapped his gum a few times before popping the ball out of the webbing and snatching it right out of the air. He didn't even bauble the catch. 

Baker wasn't the only one who could impress.

“Good,” he finally called, throwing it back to the artificial mound. “Now throw me the fastball I actually asked for.”

Her nose wrinkled, eyebrows furrowing. Without the brim of a baseball cap to cover it up, it was pretty obvious. A little amused, Mike had to wonder if that was how she always looked when she wanted to shake him off. The set of her mouth looked just right, lips pursed in annoyance. He’d gotten pretty familiar over the 17 entire times she waved his calls off her last start.

“That’s not what I’m working on,” she tried, worrying the ball behind her back. There was no doubt in Mike’s mind that her fingers had settled into a screwball grip yet again. Well, if she wanted to dick around, fine. At least the foam mats here in the pitching lanes were a little easier on his knees than the hard packed clay on the field. Mike could wait her out.

“It’s gonna be,” he tried anyway. If he didn't have to spend his entire evening in the bowels of Dodger Stadium, even if it was with someone as intriguing as Ginny Baker, why should he? “There’s nothing you or I can do to tweak that screwgie. Your fastball on the other hand...”

Baker's pursed lips flattened out into a straight line, but she didn't give him an actual reply, instead looking down as she toed the rubber and settled into her windup.

It was a refreshing change not being told to fuck off. Most of the bullpen was too familiar with him for the full force of his captaincy to have much effect on them. Mike should really work with the rookies more often. They had such a pleasing way of deferring to his every call. 

Well. Most of his calls.

Another screwball landed in his mitt. 

He tilted his head at her in exasperation, rolling his eyes though he was sure she couldn’t see it in the dim light of Dodger Stadium’s pitching lanes or the shadows of his mask. She raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Flinging the ball back at her with more strength than the throw really required, he gave up on reining in his annoyance. Given the way the impact with her glove rang against the cold cinderblock, Mike had a feeling Baker knew it, too. Still, she didn't wince or even shake out her hand, simply climbing back up the hill to set for another pitch. 

“Fastball,” he commanded gruffly, giving her the hand sign for good measure.

To be honest, if she didn’t listen again, Mike wasn’t sure what he’d do, but it’d probably involve more than a little yelling on his part. He had a feeling, though, that Ginny Baker would give just as good as she got. 

(He kind of wanted to find out.)

Baker huffed but shrugged. She settled into her stance and sent a perfectly serviceable, if unenthusiastic, fastball right down the middle of the plate. If every hitter worth their salt wouldn’t have been all over that pitch like white on rice, Mike wouldn’t have minded the lack of heat.

As it was...

“I hardly even needed a mitt to catch that, Baker,” he taunted, throwing the ball back. “Weren’t you just tellin' me you top out at 87? That couldn’t’ve been more than 70.”

Even across 60 feet, 6 inches, it was hard to miss the stubborn set of Ginny Baker's jaw. It was a new expression from her, but one that Mike had a feeling he'd be seeing much more of before the season was out. She gave a sharp shake of her head, reared back into her windup, and threw again. 

Fastball, top inside corner. This time, there was even a slight sting in his palm.

Something like pride fluttered to life in Mike’s gut. And when Ginny grinned, teeth on full display, that flutter kicked into high gear.

Mike cleared his throat, flinging the ball back a little harder than necessary, though it had nothing to do with annoyance this time.

“Good. Again.”

They continued on in this pattern, Mike alternating between approval and goading to get his desired results and Ginny generally rising to meet and exceed his expectations, until Baker’d exhausted her 40-odd pitches. She didn’t protest when he stood and signaled the end of their session, but Mike could still tell that she was itching for more. 

Good. It was nice to see that first game really had been a fluke. She really did want this.

Mike jerked his head to the door, but didn’t wait for her to catch up. She had the knees of a 23-year-old. He did not. 

Sure enough, it only took a few seconds for her to fall into step beside him on the walk back to the visitor's clubhouse. She shook out her arms and stretched them over her head, bouncing on the balls of her feet even as they walked. Mike marveled at her energy. Hadn’t she done early work—and Jesus, it was work. Parts of Mike still ached from yesterday's tandem work out session—before Kimmel, too? Wasn’t she tired? He sure as hell was, and the game hadn't even started yet.

“Blip said if we win in LA, there’s a club y’all usually go to. You gonna come out, too?”

Mike always did. And usually he left the place with some very entertaining company. But something within him rebelled at the idea of sharing that bit of information. He shrugged it off and frowned, trying to project an air befitting his status as her captain.

“Let’s worry about actually winning first, okay, Baker?”

Her grin, dimples popping and eyes dancing, made him feel a lot of things, but most of them weren’t even remotely related to his status as her captain. 

Automatically, he grinned back. Privately, though, Mike resolved to put as much effort as necessary into finding some company for tonight. A little no-strings fun, some relieved tension, and hopefully he'd wake up in the morning with his head on straight again. 

Yeah. That was exactly what he needed.

listening to your feminista rants

"This is such bullshit,” Baker muttered mulishly. Mike could just see her now, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping in her seat. 

Except, he couldn’t see her.

They were all the way across town from one another, Baker presumably in her suite at the Omni and Mike stretched out on one of the recliners scattered around his pool, trying to convince himself to go inside. If he went inside, though, started getting ready for bed, he’d have to end this phone call. Because while it wasn’t weird to talk to his rookie most nights—about anything from tomorrow’s start to the meager offerings of late night TV in hotel cable packages—it was definitely helped by the fact that Mike stayed out of his bedroom while doing it.

Specifically, he stayed out of bed.

It just— It was better if he did. 

“Huh?” Mike was pretty sure he’d missed something. Hadn’t they just been talking about the surplus of fro yo shops in the Gaslamp Quarter and what’d happened to all the real ice cream shops, didn't people know that the novelty of paying by the ounce was not offset by the objective inferiority of frozen yogurt?

Which was definitely some kind of bullshit, but not the kind that would inspire this level of annoyance from Baker. 

Well. Maybe it would. The girl did take her food very seriously.

She sighed down the line. “Sorry. Amelia sent me this interview request.”

When she didn’t elaborate further, Mike prodded, “Isn’t that her job?”

He didn’t love talking about Amelia with Baker. Just like he didn’t love talking about Baker with Amelia, but he could suck it up and play it cool for a while. It helped that he hadn't actually seen Amelia today. Mike didn't like to think about the fact that it was easier to talk to his rookie when he hadn't recently hooked up with her agent, though. Too messy for his tastes. Then again, hooking up with his rookie's agent was probably too messy for his tastes, too.

“Yeah,” she agreed, a little listlessly. “She usually does a better job of weeding out the obviously sexist ones. I think she’s been distracted lately.”

Oh, was this another one of her girl power trips? He could definitely deal with that. Ignoring the rest of her complaint and whatever role he might play in it, Mike tucked an arm behind his head and asked, “What's wrong with the request?”

“What isn’t?” Baker muttered under her breath. Mike waited her out until she sighed and offered, “They led off with what they wanted the photo spread to look like.”

“I don’t see what’s so obviously sexist about that.”

“That’s because you’re a dude.��

“That’s probably true.”

It didn't even get a laugh. She was too worked up for his dry delivery to even dent her indignation. To be fair, there was a lot in her life to be indignant about. 

“Like—” Baker cut herself off with a humorless laugh, but not for long. "No one sends your agent the list of outfits they want you to wear for a photoshoot and completely forgets to add the interview questions, right? No one would dream of doing that to anyone else in MLB. Just me. It’s just me who has to navigate even the shortest interaction with a reporter like I’m guarding state secrets. All because I want people to focus on how I play the game.”

Mike didn’t tell her that he couldn’t really remember the last time an article about him had included an actual photoshoot. “You’re not wrong,” he said because A) that was what he was supposed to say in this situation, having learned his lesson from listening to Rachel's complaints, and B) she wasn't.

“And no one asks you about your skincare regimen during pre-game pressers. Or cares what you wear on road trips or what you eat on your cheat days or which of the hundreds of guys you’ve been in a four-foot radius of in the past 24 hours is secretly your boyfriend and which ones just want to sleep with you.”

“Well,” he drawled, “if I had a secret boyfriend, I’m pretty sure some people would be interested.”

That earned Mike his laugh. Not quite as bright as he’d wanted and almost in spite of herself, but he grinned at the still water of his pool anyway. 

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.”

And he did. There was no denying that Ginny Baker, just by virtue of being the first, was going to be subjected to bullshit her teammates weren’t and never would be. While it wasn’t often that she actually complained about it, Mike couldn’t miss the way it dragged on her. The way her smile was always a shade too harsh in press conferences, her jokes rehearsed. He definitely couldn’t miss the way she always let out a huge sigh of relief the second she got out of the press room, shoulders slumping and exhaustion settling in.

“Yeah, I know.”

That certainty was nice to hear. That was why Mike felt warmth rush through him, flooding his face. It was so nice, in fact, he was still smiling when he finally hung up the call and climbed into bed. 

He might’ve even been smiling as he fell asleep.

the way you constantly interrupt me

Well, there was no beating around the bush. This speech blew. 

It wasn’t often that Mike couldn’t talk his way out of a corner, but he had a sinking feeling, the longer he went on, this might be one of those times.

Something about the rhythm of it, maybe? It wasn’t up to Mike’s usual standards for all he was hitting all the usual beats and talking points. Then again, he’d gotten a little out of practice. Hadn’t had much occasion to give celebratory speeches these past few weeks. 

But today, the Padres had clinched their first series sweep in what felt like forever. And clinched it with a shutout victory, at that. That was certainly cause for Mike to step up and address a few words to his team. 

But it was time to start wrapping it up, now. Before they realized he was talking in circles.

He raised his beer one last time to the gaggle of Padres still jostling each other in the open space of the clubhouse.

“This was just the beginning. We keep playing like that, then you better believe the postseason’s got our name on it. Good job, guys—”

“And girl.”

Mike whirled and took in said girl’s defiantly raised chin. He hadn’t put his back to the hallway holding her changing room on purpose, except, yes. He had. Most of these mooks might not know a great orator from a stuttering wallflower, but he had zero interest in finding out if Ginny Baker fell in with the crowd on this front. He had a feeling she didn’t and wouldn’t have any problem with letting him know it. 

Funny. It wasn’t often he hated being right.

Next to her, Blip’s arms crossed over his chest, but a grin was pulling at the corner of his mouth as his eyes darted between her and Mike. 

For his part, now that he’d turned his attention back to her, Mike couldn’t imagine looking away.

Flush with victory, he couldn’t think of a time she’d looked better. Not even on the red carpet, wearing that ridiculous red dress that should’ve been illegal by any sane standards. Not that he really had a horse in this race, but Mike was pretty sure he preferred her as she was now, still wearing her uniform, a little disheveled from the game. 

And what a game!

Tonight, for the first time since she went AWOL from her party, Ginny’d taken the mound and thrown a beautiful game. A work of art, really. Mike had seen a lot of twirlers in his time and if he’d had any doubts about Ginny Baker’s actual skills, this game would’ve taken them out back, shot ‘em, and buried ‘em six feet deep. 

And that was just on the strength of five innings. Erring on the side of caution, Al took her out with the Padres up 4-0. It hadn’t seemed like she chafed at the tight leash, though, given the way she draped her arms loosely over the dugout fence to watch the rest of the game. 

Then again, Mike could only go based on what he’d observed. 

Ginny still wasn’t really talking to him.

Until now. Until this.

He didn’t even tell her off for interrupting him.

“And girl.” He tipped his bottle to her, nodding his head for good measure. A smile flickered across her lips for a second. 

Unspeakable relief swept through Mike. It’d been so long since Ginny’d actually addressed him off the field (or the red carpet), he hadn’t quite realized that he’d been craving it, missing what’d come so easily not even two weeks ago. 

Jesus, how long had it been since they last talked outside of a game situation? It couldn’t have just been two weeks. He wouldn’t feel so fucking grateful to hear her voice again, without the roar of a crowd underpinning it, if it had only been two weeks.

Since he couldn’t stare at his rookie pitcher in awe quite as long as he would’ve liked, Mike cleared his throat and shifted his attention back to the rest of his teammates. “All right, you mooks. Get your asses in the showers and go home. We’ve got another game to play tomorrow.”

There was roughly an equal amount of booing as cheering, which was about as good a reaction as Mike could ask for. 

Because he wasn’t going to push his luck and ask for Ginny to actually smile at him, too. 

If he watched out of the corner of his eye as she clapped Blip on the shoulder and retreated to her dressing room, that was his business. It was also his business if he took the first opportunity to follow her. 

“Come in,” she called, hardly before he’d finished knocking. 

Mike pushed the door open, but didn’t step into her space. It felt important that he didn’t. Not yet, at least.

“That was a good game.”

Ginny turned and blinked, like she was surprised it was him. Since there was none of the anger or confusion that’d colored their interactions the past weeks, Mike tried to take it in stride. 

“Thanks,” she replied, looking wary, but not entirely closed off. “Wouldn’t have managed it without that homer in the seventh.”

Mike shrugged, though she wasn’t wrong. When she continued to stare at him probingly, he grinned, a touch too self-conscious to manage his trademark charm. 

“You gonna go out with the guys?” 

“I thought we were supposed to go home so we could come back refreshed for tomorrow.”

He rolled his eyes. “You think I really expect any of these dummys—”

“You calling me a dummy, Lawson?” she demanded, and that! That was a smile. A real smile from Ginny directed straight at Mike.

“If you go out to the karaoke bar the way Voorhies wants, then there’s no—”

She laughed. “You asshole.”

Since Ginny looked legitimately fond, Mike didn’t even protest. He laughed, too. 

“Yeah,” he agreed, more than a little wondering. “That’s me.”

oh, that horsey laugh

Mike was fucking exhausted. 

And why shouldn’t he be? They’d played a doubleheader yesterday and suffered through a rain delay at Wrigley today. Yesterday. Whatever. 

They were supposed to leave Chicago at 11:00. It was now 2:30 in the morning and they’d only just pulled away from the gate. Mike had been awake for nearly 20 hours now, and tomorrow—today, whatever—he’d have to get up and do most of it again. 

It wasn’t the game that’d kill him, though. It was the fucking plane.

Mike couldn’t quite explain the hatred he felt for the endless array of charter planes the Padres commandeered in the course of a season. For a guy who didn’t even go to an airport until he was 18 and heading out for Idaho and his first stop on the way to the majors, air travel doesn’t hold much romance for him. The seats were too close together and now that he’s gotten old, the dry air makes his throat itch and back tighten. 

It beat day-long bus rides, though.

If he could help it, he never slept on the plane, hated waking up with a kink in his neck and stiff knees, but he’d make an exception today. He was just that tired.

What Mike really wanted was his bed. And preferably a warm body to share it with. It’d been a while since that happened, though, and he wasn’t holding his breath for tonight. So, he’d have to settle for reclining his seat as much as possible—fuck Margolis sitting behind him; he’d given up a triple and let three runners steal before getting yanked—and sleeping while he could. If he didn’t, there was a good chance his drive home would end poorly.

Nothing quite drove home how old he was getting quite like feasibly believing he might fall asleep behind the wheel.

Thank God most of the team was in agreement on that front. The cabin was dark, only the dim, blue glow of iPads and phones illuminating the space. It was quiet, too, just Al’s sonorous, familiar snoring disrupting the silence. 

Until someone had to go and make Ginny Baker laugh.

In spite of how tired he was, the sound of her laugh—loud and more than a little obnoxious but entirely genuine—was enough to make Mike smile automatically in response. He kept his eyes shut, letting her guffaws fade away and send him to sleep. 

It wasn’t so different from being on the phone with her late at night, game adrenaline slowly filtering out of his system and his eyes growing heavy. Okay, maybe he’d given up on staying out of bed for all of their conversations, but he was only human. Sometimes Baker talked a lot, and it always put her in a good mood when she could tease him the next day for falling asleep on the phone.

Except Ginny wasn’t on the phone with him. She wasn’t even laughing at him.

Which shouldn’t have been the problem and shouldn’t have fucking bothered him at all.

“Do that again!” she demanded, delight coating every word. 

Salvamini’s laugh was more mellow, and if Mike weren’t sure the man was head over heels in love with his wife and family, he’d think he was flirting. 

“You’re not gonna figure it out,” the first baseman replied, and there was the soft whirr of shuffling cards. There were a few quiet moments before it started all over again.

“How did you do that?” Ginny demanded, laughing bright and loud and not at all aware that it was nearly 3:00 AM and everyone around her wanted to be asleep.

Still, Mike couldn’t bring himself to yell at them to shut up. He did sit up and glare blearily their way, cutting Salvi off in the middle of saying, “A magician never reveals his secrets.” 

Magician. Yeah fucking right. The only people who actually believed that were the guy’s kids. And none of them were over the age of six.

Salvi had the nerve to grin, making Ginny turn to look, too. “Looks like captain’s calling,” he teased, nodding to Mike three rows ahead. 

Mike rolled his eyes and flopped back into his seat. He didn’t cross his arms over his chest, because then it would look like he was pouting. 

Which he wasn’t.

He closed his eyes. If he tried really hard, he could probably fall asleep in the next thirty seconds. That seemed reasonable.

The soft pad of sneakers against the carpeting of the aisle wasn’t enough to make him open them, but the soft creak of leather and mechanical parts shifting right beside him was. He cracked one eye open and took in Ginny Baker curled up on the seat next to his. 

She grinned when she saw she had his attention. 

“Did I interrupt your beauty sleep, old man?”

“Don’t need it,” he rumbled, “when you look as good as I do.”

Her responding laugh, though it was absolutely familiar, was quiet this time, just for Mike’s ears.

“You keep telling yourself that,” she murmured, eyelashes kissing the tops of her dusky cheeks as she settled in for some sleep herself.

She was the last thing before Mike’s eyes shut and the first thing he saw when the plane touched down in San Diego, and that didn’t make him feel any kind of way. 

Not at all.

i’m gonna miss the hell out of you, baker

His phone should be in his pocket. Better yet, he should’ve left it at home when he decided what he needed to do with his last night in San Diego was go out and get sad drunk all by himself. 

(Maybe all by himself. He still hadn’t decided. Which was, of course, the problem.)

It was, unfortunately, neither of those places. 

No. It was sitting right on the slightly sticky bar top, mere inches from his third beer of the night. 

This was a disaster waiting to happen.

When had drinking and cellphones ever been a good combination? Never, in Mike’s experience. 

He couldn’t resist unlocking the screen every so often, though, staring at the text he’d drafted on his way here and still hadn’t sent.

Blip’s warning kept replaying in his head. 

You could have just said bye to everyone.

Well. Mike didn’t give a shit about everyone. It stung that Blip was clearly so put out with him, but they’d get it together. Probably once Blip figured out that captaining that gaggle of overgrown kids was no walk in the park and maybe he needed or just wanted a little of Mike’s advice.

And yeah, if he were in the right frame of mind, he’d want the whole team to understand why he was going, but they’d get it after his press conference from Chicago tomorrow. They’d—probably, not all Padres were made equal, after all—figure out what went down.

And if they didn’t, what did Mike care? He wasn’t their captain anymore. He wasn’t anyone’s captain.

Still, there was one teammate he wanted to say goodbye to. One teammate he needed to know understood the whole messed up situation. 

Not that Mike quite understood it all himself. 

All he knew was that he’d been ready to fight tooth and nail to stay a Padre, but one look at Ginny Baker, going through her stretch and hum routine before taking the mound again made him realize he couldn’t. He couldn’t stay her teammate, stay in her life even, and not fuck it all up somewhere down the line. That was what he did best: fuck good things up. He refused to do it to her, though. No matter how fucking fond he felt every time she yelled at Stubbs for calling his ex a crazy bitch, or lit up the first time her fastball cracked 89, or laughed too long and too loud at terrible jokes, or cut him off to start a story of her own. 

No matter how “fond” didn’t even come close to cutting it.

He’d leave his team, the closest thing he had to a family, before he put Ginny’s career in jeopardy. 

Because he loved her, okay? He’d fucking fallen in love with his rookie, the first woman in MLB. He loved her and knew she meant more to the game than he ever would. There was no point in denying it now.

Mike laughed a little to himself. All the signs had been there. But it was the fucking humming that did him in. Fucking Katy Perry pushed him from willful ignorance straight over the edge into self-awareness. 

Yeah, he’d miss this town and miss this team, but mostly what he’d miss would be her.

And, terrible as this idea was, he wanted her to know.

He drained the last of his beer and unlocked his phone again. 

Before he could convince himself otherwise, Mike hit send. 

Like magic, a blue bubble popped up on his side of the conversation, just two words, but two words that he thought might change everything. Or enough. God, he hoped it would be enough.

Boardner’s Bar. 

#bawson #bawson fic #pitch #pitch fic #i wrote something #seriously lets bring back #5+1 fics #yes i'm aware this is 4+1 #but my point stands

[isoboto]

A Controversial Opinion: (Not) Taking A Knee, In Sports

▬▬▬

00 | PREFACE

Welcome to an episode where I try to break your echo chamber. This is your host, Eva. I hope you’re having a great day.

Have a seat and settle down because you, my lovely readers, are about listen to one of the silent voice you don’t know exist, or if you do you are usually very quick to attack/dismantle/dismiss.

The purpose of this is not to trigger or anger you. It’s to explain to you why some people acts and thinks differently from you.

Welcome to the real world.

Today, we will be tackling why some athletes won’t take a knee or why some leagues don’t mandate kneeling as part of their operation to eradicate racism. As well as the future implications of kneeling in sports.

Some context: I’ve only gotten into hockey recently as a form of escape from politics. I watched soccer and NASCAR with my dad, but we aren’t religious fan.

I’m from Vietnam, a regime where criticisms against authority or merely pointing out faults in the system is very much like asking for a death sentence. I’ve been political since I started middle school and had put myself into many risky situations for expressing my opinions.

I came to Canada for a better future and was determined to put my past behind me and not involved in more political talks. I followed the news, but I kept my mouth shut. Being agreeable is very easy -- all you have to do is nod and smile and parrot back whatever the other person is saying.

The death of George Floyd got me dialed in back to politics full-time. I initially did not chime into the discussion, simply because I don’t see the point of yelling something everybody agreed across the board. I agreed that Floyd’s death is unwarranted, the involving police officers should be tried and punished suitably, the police force should reflect and reform and take actions to prevent similar situation from happening again to anybody.

I continued to keep silence as protests sparked across the US, Canada and Europe. People have the right to exercise their free speech, free thoughts and demand the government to improve and be better and fairer.

There are many other things that happened in the past 3-5 months, but I will direct your attention to what happened between Colin Kappernick and Drew Brees, and the conversation about the meaning of kneeling during the anthem.

I was not invested in NFL or NBA or MLB, and only mildly involve in NHL and NASCAR. However, there were many talks about potentially allow players to kneel. I really didn’t get what was the anger all about, but whatever you know.

Fast forward to August 1, 2020.

MLB and NBA orchestrated a kneeling event where almost all players were kneeling (except for cases I’ll mentioned later). NHL’s Matt Dumba knelt during the American anthem after a speech, following by a few others on August 3.

I’ve seen both sides of the aisles, and I’d like to explain from the silent side’s opinion. 

This is not mean to be a comprehensive list of reasons why people don’t/won’t kneel. If you support kneeling you don’t have to agree to all of these points. You may have already ran into these talking points, or you may not. You’re free to criticize the people, however, I’ll ask that you acknowledge that these opinions exist.

Alright.

Let’s dissect this down.

▬▬▬ 

01 | WHY WON’T THEY KNEEL?

» An examination on why some people don’t kneel or won’t kneel as a form of protest «

I’ve seen this question raised a lot across my dash and saw people criticizes why players wouldn’t kneel and instead chose to stand without considering what could go on through the players’ minds.

There are a several plausible explanation for why a player/an organization chooses not to kneel. The top 3 that I most often heard (and also deduce from my personal experience) are: 1) business tactics, 2) religious reasons, 3) political reasons.

What do I mean by that?

      1.  From a Business Perspective: “Where The Money Goes, I Go.”

Let’s not forget one thing: sports are a business, just like Tesla, Red Bull, Hollywood, the music industry or your local small stores.

It is an exchange of values. The players are getting paid to play games, to win and the owner/the audience are paying for entertainment. 

Following the riots, just like many businesses and brands, sport teams and leagues began putting out pro-BLM and anti-racism messages. However, many also took (extreme) steps to show how woke and supportive they are.

Which, brings us to this unique perspective of how mixing politics and businesses can be very counterproductive and even harmful. The year 2020 is the year Get Woke, Go Broke manifests into existence, and we can physically and statistically see it happening.

Let’s go with some recent biggest examples:

The recent lawsuits against Patreon for banning users for some particular ideologies, specifically against conservative or right-leaning creators (Owen Benjamin vs. Patreon lawsuits breakdown, Viva Frei). 

Patreon lost the case and they will now be forced to arbirate 100+ claims and pay up to $10,000 per arbitration just from the lawsuits with Owen Benjamin alone. Other creators and supporters who were previously shut down are now filing lawsuits against Patreon. The impending arbitration money are going to crushed Patreon in the matter of times.

A&E’s story of dropped viewership and revenue after cancelling “Live PD” (A&E Sees Viewership Drop 49% After Canceling Live PD, Rosa Escandon).

Live PD is responsible for 85% of the traffic and revenue for A&E and is the most popular shows out of all series they’re running. The cancellation is not definite, but it is probable that once this blew over A&E will bring Live PD back.

Or, since we’re talking about sports, just hot off the press, August 3:  NBA Ratings Crash: Why are NBA and MLB ratings at an all time low after ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests, Gautham Balaji. August 5: ESPN loses the biggest number of subscribers in 4 years.

Here are some numbers:

via Ethan Strauss’s Twitter, August 2, 2020

via Rich Greenfield’s Twitter, August 5, 2020

Civiqs’ Poll

Let’s put ourselves into these millionaires’ (expensive) shoes for a second.

We all know how basic business model works. In order for a business to succeed, you have to understand your audience, understand who you’re trying to impress. You want to maximize your target market.

For sports, you want people to buy tickets or to tune in on the broadcast, buy merchandises, etc. Therefore, your target market would mostly be those who have disposable incomes, a stable job, middle-class. Splitting it down even more, the older group would most likely don’t want to be political while the younger group would most likely to be political; while people with higher education are most likely to be political while lower education are less likely to be political.

Examine the Civiqs’ graph:

Prior to April 2018, the opposition against BLM is greater than supporting for BLM. Noted that by the time George Floyd’s story hits the news and the peaceful protests began, support for BLM surged and opposition dipped.

However, immediately when the riots started, shifts began: noted the huge plummet in “Neither support nor oppose” corresponding with the big swing for “Oppose” and the slight change in “Unsure”. These people who previously didn’t care or chose not to be active politically “flipped”.

If you (the player/the league) outright supported BLM, you know you’re potentially losing 36% of your audience with current situation. At its peak you can lose up to 42%.

To put into perspective: that’s over 1/3 of a league’s revenue evaporating into thin air. Big leagues, like NBA or MLB or NFL, or big teams with more money, may be able to hold on. Smaller leagues, like NHL, which had to battle it out in places for people to take hockey seriously and was already strapped, will be hurt a lot. Especially if you take into consideration lower fan attendance over the years and other factors.

That’s not the worst case scenario.

See the “neither support or oppose” and “unsure” category? Remember, if they’re in those categories it doesn’t mean they don’t have an opinion. They may not care about BLM’s agenda -- perhaps they view BLM as an organization that did some bad and some good, or perhaps because they are not political at all.

So let’s assume they are not political at all. Neutral. Most likely, these fans don’t want anything to do with politics. They just want to work, come home, have the TV on and fall asleep. They may be passionate fans, they may be not.

Noted that leading up to the riots, the amount of people deciding to be neutral stays relatively the same.

But, a few things happened: the riots and big corporations/celebrities coming out endorsing violence, MSM constantly promoting anti-racism and pro-BLM materials day in and day out.

People go online, BLM. People go shopping, BLM. People go across a street, BLM. The news, BLM. BLM, BLM, BLM everywhere!

They just want a break. They put the sport channels on, and oh hey! BLM again!

They are sick and tired of it.

I spoke about this all days every day, browsed news about these, debated all of this for fun,  and even I got sick of it too at some point. I physically could feel myself driven insane just from the divisiveness and anger I’ve chosen to surrounded myself in. I could feel my perspective skewed and warped far from I actually believe -- being polarized.

Guess how are these average, non-political people going to react to politics being shoved down their throats everywhere? They just want the country to do well economically, have a stable job, unplug from their work. They don’t want to keep stressing out about politics and turmoil. They are done hearing/talking about it at work.

They’re just going to turn off the TV, go on YouTube/Netflix and stream some dumb things. Or they’re going to change the channels.

The numbers don’t lie.

If you combined the current numbers of “oppose”, “neither support or oppose” and “unsure”, you’re staring at 50% potential loss squarely in the face. If you’re going for the extreme numbers, at their respective peak, “oppose” had 42%,  “neither support or oppose” had 26% and “unsure” had 3%, for a combined 71%.

70% of your audience is going to tune out or abandoned you.

But, let’s assume the best case scenario. The 50% that supports BLM will also stand by you for doing the “right” thing (quotation mark, because I’ll let history be the judge).

But what if the 50% that you thought are going to applaud and support you aren’t doing that. They are criticizing you for your message, your delivery, your efforts. They’re going to call you phony, cheap, sell-out. You’re only claiming to support it, you don’t really support it, do you?

Are they going to quit watching you, too? Maybe. Potentially.

What if some of those 50% are like me -- self-proclaimed pundits trying to take a breather and reflect? Nobody can be on a job 24/7, for 365 days.

You get what I’m going here?

Look hard at the numbers for the NBA and MLB’s debut versus golfing.

Noticed the ratio? At best, 1.7M vs. 5.8M viewership. 1:3 ratio. 30% remained.

It’s already happening.

Kneeling and declaring allegiance to BLM are already crippling the sports.

The players can do whatever they want. Kneel, don’t kneel, support BLM, don’t support BLM -- whatever. 

But the league should not affiliate itself with a political movement that started under problematic platforms and now unraveled into full unhinge-mode. It is extremely dangerous when leagues like NFL, NBA, MBL and NHL started endorsing BLM  -- and I am very specifically talking about supporting BLM here. By pledging to BLM (ie. painting BLM on the courts, having giant letters at your stadium), the league as a whole is making itself political and aligning itself with an ideology, which is Marxism (Karl Marx).

When a league aligns itself to a particular ideology like that, players that have different opinions will either bottled up their real thoughts or they will receive backlash and be cancelled if they dare go against the grains (even if they intent to be political or not)

NFL Takes Hardline Stance Against Christian Players Attending Church

Marcellus Wiley (NFL) on BLM

NBA's James Harden Slammed for Wearing Apparent Pro-Police Mask amid Fight Against Racial Injustice

NHL: Bruins Photoshop Boston Police Logo Off Charlie Coyle’s Shirt In IG Post After Globe Reporter Matt Porter Criticizes Tuukka Rask For Wearing BPD Hat During Interview

ESPN Host’s Poll Mocks NBA Player Who Didn’t Kneel For Suffering Season-Ending Injury

Aligning themselves with BLM will also make the leagues primed to further metaphorically “bend the knee” for the BLM mob and make players do what they want for that “united” facade they want.

The BLM mob are demanding everybody to kneel because that’s the only appropriate way to protest, and so one-by-one down they go.

You can argue “but it’s for justice!”, but you and I both know that’s not how it works. BLM reared its ugly head and then people flocked to appease it. Say anything else other than “I Support BLM” and they will loot your store, threaten to desert you. They scream and scream and scream in your face. The media amplified that voices. Big companies like WalMart, etc. -- people immediately dismissed it because “they have insurance”. How about the small businesses that had to board up their fronts and spraypainted “Minority-Owned Business” because they’re terrified the mob are going to bash their windows and steal?

The recent scandal with Red Bull is a smart move. I’m not (necessarily) gleeful that people are getting fired, but it is a strategic move because Red Bull recognizes the “Get Woke, Go Broke” reality. This segment started with examples of businesses got broke and got caught in their own hypocrisy, and now here we are.

The reasons why some businesses or players will not “bend the knee”, physically and/or metaphorically, is because:

They recognize the political undercurrent and they do not want to be involved in it;

They realize supporting BLM doesn’t mean supporting black lives on the street in meaningful ways;

Bend the knee to the mob once, you’re going to bend the knee to the mob again;

Losing a bigger chunk of fans for supporting BLM;

“Get Woke, Go Broke” trend;

Or, simply: they don’t agree with this particular form of protesting.

    2.  From a Religious Perspective: “I kneel before no man but God.”

I know players are from various religious backgrounds and beliefs.

I am not a religious person by any means. I respect people who worships gods and follows religions, whichever it is. As long as they do not physically harm others in the names of their religious belief, then I’m all good.

Worshiping a religion means people will also following (some) of its beliefs, and by respecting their beliefs I must also accept that people will choose and act according to their faith.

The two prime players who stood up for their belief are: Sam Coonrod (SF Giants, MLB, July 23, 2020) and Jonathan Isaac (Orlando Magic, NBA, July 31, 2020).

Jonathan Isaac Explains Why He Stood During National Anthem

From my knowledge, most religions featured common values (ie. be kind, be respectful, be considerate of your words and actions, understand karma and consequences, etc.). However, since the two examples I provided featured Christians, I’ll talk about the Christian perspective from here. That being said, God doesn’t necessarily just talking about Jesus Christ but could also be referring to Allah or other god-like figure they worship.

The following articles gave some good insights on how different Christians feel about this: 1) Kneeling for the Anthem: a Catholic Reflection on Protest, 2) The Power and the Threat of Kneeling, 3) Christian players frustrated by criticism for anthem protest.

I’ve had also chances to talk to some of the local Christians, gotten an array of answers. 

Some Christians said they are willing to take a knee in the name of racial justice. Some Christians disagree with the method of protesting but don’t agree with stifling somebody trying to express their voice. 

Some Christians refused to take a knee. Why?

They do not think any man is worthy of bowing down for, except for God

They do not believe BLM advocates for the values they follow or what God wants. Examples:

BLM is anti-Christ/anti-religion -- burnt down numerous churches, defaced and burnt the Virgin Mary, decapitated Jesus Christ, sexual harassment and physical assault to a priest in CHAZ;

BLM seeking to destroy nuclear family and permanent removal of father-figure in children’s life -- yes, this is stated on their official website;

BLM is pro-abortion -- Planned Parenthood has entered many discussion. The thing is: Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood is founded specifically to decimate minorities. Their message has been flipped due to the new “wokeness” (ie. going from “we will restrict your community from growth by killing off your babies” to “we will help elevate your voice by killing off your babies”). 

BLM is Marxist -- one of the main idea in Marxism is the absolute removal of religion, and this is often interpreted as all religions. However, the attack on Christianity and Christians are the clearest example of this, at least in the US/Canada

Some articles on why Christians do not believe or support BLM: 1) Some Evangelicals Struggle With Black Lives Matter Movement, 2) The Stated Goals of Black Lives Matter Are Anti-Christian. This last one is very interesting because it breaks down similarities in Christianity and the method of protesting some BLM protesters choose, The Faith Of The Black Lives Matter Movement

As fellow non-religious folk, you and I may not have been able to comprehend why they are taking their relationship with God very seriously, or how much they use the Bible to guide them in life.

I’ve heard many others dismissing and even laughing at people because they’re religious, or criticizing people because they need an outdated book to help to through life. Both Sam Coonrod and Jonathan Isaac were slammed when they cited their faith as one of their main reasons for not kneeling.

If Christians chose not to protest against racial injustice by kneeling, and instead raising a fist, or standing and praying to God to purge racism out of human’s DNA -- why is it a problem?

All Christians that I have spoken to believe there are racial injustice and want to do their best to eradicate it and help those who are suffering. They want no harm and want the world to be a better place.

If we can accept that people can think differently, can act differently, can speak differently, why are we not accepting that people can protest or raise awareness differently?

Unless, it’s not about kneeling or raising awareness or protesting at all.

It’s about satisfying your own needs to feel vindicated, to know your favourite players are doing things you want them to do and are feeling the same way about things just like you.

      3. From a Personal Perspective

Traditionally, and universally-accepted: kneeling can be in awe, in fear, in humiliation or in respect.

To me, personally, kneeling to someone/something is often being linked to “being terrified”/”being humiliated” rather than “being respectful”.

As someone who is small-frame, I don’t like kneeling. One knee or two knee bent, didn’t matter. Psychologically speaking, and, physically speaking, you’re making yourself smaller, lower to the ground and easier to hurt. You’re in a vulnerable position. 

Kneeling reminds me too much of grovelling, powerless.

Obviously, this is my opinion and I don’t know if anybody else or any players who didn’t kneel share the same opinion. But. I don’t think kneeling is an empowering move.

You have to stand up for what you believe in even if it’s unpopular. Not: you have to bend your knee for what you believe in.

Standing had always been associating with rising, moving upward, becoming bigger and more powerful.

Some reasons people will cite for kneeling including: condemning police brutality, honouring the lives lost under police brutality, honouring black lives. Which are great causes. I still very, very much believe if you’re going to protest, stand up tall and firm. (Especially, since, you know, Floyd dies with a knee on his neck. Kneeling in remembrance of him is kinda funny ironic.)

So, an interesting case study: Recently, Matt Dumba (Minnesota Wild, NHL, August 3, 2020) made a speech and knelt. However, he only knelt for the American anthem but stood for the Canadian anthem.

I’m not ragging on Dumba. Kudos to him for speaking out.

He later said he’d have kneel for Canada anthem as well. I understand. There are pressures on him, and I think when hearing your nation’s anthem you’ll usually automatically stand up.

That being said, there are rightful, warranted probing questions. It raised doubts to the legitimacy of kneeling.

Kneeling for the US anthem but then standing for Canada anthem is a strange decision because it is implying that there are problems in the US, not in the Canada. Prior to George Floyd’s death as well as around the times when protests/riots broke out, a few Indigenious Canadians died during a wellness check (Recent deaths prompt questions about police wellness checks) and arguably perhaps police brutality.

Here in Canada, we’re told we’re equally racist, but the mentality Canadians have is that we’re better than the US.

Therefore, I’d say it is rightful that a lot of people interpreted Dumba’s action as hating on the US and/or not actually raising awareness about racism or police brutality.

This brings us to the biggest reason a lot of people cite for being against kneeling: kneeling on the flag is disrespecting the country.

I’ve looked into the military history of kneeling on the flag/during the anthem. I’ve to wade through pages of different vets rationalizing their opinions and asked some of the vets/active-duty that I knew of, and here are my findings:

Some views it as disrespect because it shows cowardice

“I didn’t serve so you can kneel.”

Some doesn’t like it but doesn’t mind it because you’re excising your freedom of speech and thoughts. 

Most people I knew of, and myself, fell into this camp

Some thinks it could mean respect and should even be a mandate form of greeting the flags.

I thought this was a good point and should be something we can consider

However, it’s worth pointing out there are also vets that supports kneeling specifically because they hate America or the government, either because the system chewed them up and spat them back out. There are also people that supported spitting and/or burning the flags for all the history it carries

I don’t agree with spitting and/or burning the flags. I think it implies symbolically you’re wishing your country to go down in flames (the fact that half of America has been literally burning down for over 2 months, and many rioters/BLM supporters talking about literally burning things down make me more alarmed and disgusted)

But. It’s freedom of speech and freedom of expressions. So.

Drew Brees’ speech is a very good way to sum it up how most average people feel about this: I would stand on the anthem, but you’re free to kneel even if I disapprove of the particular method of kneeling.

The take-away here is that the same action can mean differently to different people.

Some will not kneel or disapprove of kneeling because of the symbolic weight. 

So, I’ll reiterate the biggest point: There’s no “correct” way of protesting. 

Someone does not have to kneel in order to express that they are against racism.

We can achieve the same goal by different means. 

You and I are okay with people kneeling don’t mean others have to agree with us. We should not be pressuring others to kneel and think and process and expression opinions the same way we do. It is impossible, and it is a dangerous mentality.

We are not a monolith.

      4. From a Political Perspective: “BLM is doing more harm than good.”

      4.1. Wrong messenger/mixed messages

Look.

People are free to kneel, but I do believe there is a right time, place for it, and the right people for it.

The NBA kneeling for racial justice and equality for all and police brutality yet the whole organization is built off the back of child labour and sweatshop in China and the CCP’s inhumane treatment to the Chinese, as well as actively stifling Hong Kong’s freedom. 

Some dramatic irony there. 

They have pulled down the option to put in anything for the player’s name, but history got it down: 1) NBA store says 'Free Hong Kong' was 'inadvertently prohibited' from jerseys, 2) Police fire water cannon, tear gas at Hong Kong protesters, 3) China’s Global Threat to Human Rights.

It really does undermined your message, NBA! Make the “kneeling for justice” idea got completely thrown out of the window! Try better next time!

We can also go over Disney or Colin Kappernick (lmao that July 4th tweet, Colin. Really bad move!), the awfully cringy “I Take Responsibility” video but you understand the point.

BLM is this exclusive “branding” that businesses and sport leagues slap onto their forehead so they won’t be branded racist while not doing anything for the minorities. BLM is a hoax, a front for privilege people to pat themselves on the back for “acknowledging” their privileges and their power. 

You can think this is an excuse for me to rag on these idiotic big companies or individuals (and, you’re right), but it also leads me to this early conclusion that BLM is a scam.

However, with recent events and evidences I’ve been digging up, it’s increasingly difficult to say BLM as simply “a scam”.

      4.2. BLM: the sinister Marxist agenda and the crazy utopia

Kneeling to protest against anti-racism, by now, is synonymous with supporting BLM.

I’m willing to bet if you’re pushing for everybody to subscribe to the “KNEELING! TO! PROTEST! AND! SHOW! SOLIDARITY!” deal, you’re also a BLM supporter.

You can support BLM. That’s fine.

I’ll tell you upfront that I don’t support BLM.

You are going to click away, or maybe already angrily typing something up to build your case against me.

Wait until the end.

All I ask is that you try to see what I and many others find repulsive and alarming about BLM. 

Alright? Alright.

I will not go into excessive details on BLM, because I’ll dedicate another post at some point to BLM. That post will probably be up at somewhere some point early/mid-2024. It will definitely be on time with the BLM’s peak activity, during another waves of riots.

Anyhow.

So why won’t I kneel for BLM? Why won’t I do this for BLM cause?

Because I don’t believe black people should have more rights? Because I don’t sympathize with the black community? Because I’m a racist?

Listen.

I support black lives. I know the system is rigged, I know there needs to be improvement -- nothing will ever be perfect, and improvements are always needed.

I don’t support Black Lives Matter (BLM) because Black Lives Matter (BLM) the organization and the movement had already derailed too far too fast.

Zuby summarizes a lot of my points, so if you like listening/visual more than reading, feel free to listen to his rationale before continuing.

Zuby - The Problem with Black Lives Matter 

I cannot get on board with their actions or their ideologies, nor can I see they’re making an impact on black community they’re claiming they’re representing. I spoke to people, I shifted back and forth and remained neutral for a while before throwing in my towel and quit it. There were murder of kids in NYC and there are zero, ZERO anger. No riots, no protests. Nothing! Zit! Nada! 

Yet they’re willing to come out and break windows for a criminal. Both Michael Brown and George Floyd were criminals. Isn’t it strange? The biggest riots/protests spearheaded by BLM are for criminals? Michael Brown’s case was a justified shooting. And although George Floyd’s death is unnecessary recent leaked footage had provided ample of context. Both autopsies also came back showing that he was high on meth and fentanyl.

BLM have a particular political vision Marxism (1) BLM co-founder describes herself as ‘trained Marxist’, 2) Is Black Lives Matter Marxist? No and Yes), and please, excuse me for saying this is alarming because they’re clearly demonstrating and glorifying communist ideas and practices. I’ve been through the grinder, I can recognize the signs. 

It is very clearly not the Sweden-socialist model they are going for (which is a myth, btw, because Sweden is pro-capitalist). It is very clear they are angling for Marx-Leninism.

People will be screaming “all revolutionaries are led by Marxist ideas”, ignoring the fact that those revolutions, if succeed, often crashed and burnt and led to weak economy and terrible nations.

But, but. You know what? Fine. I’ll refrain from screaming Communism Doesn’t Work!!!

We will give BLM the absolute benefits of the doubts: that BLM do everything in line with MLK’s vision or the BPP’s vision.

We will not rip BLM base on its ideologies anymore and will examine its actions.

Alright. So how had they been beneficial to the community they claim to serve, so far in 2020?

More black people are dead during this fight for justice for black. More black people lives are ruined during this fight for justice for black. There are thousands of businesses in ruined -- black businesses in ruined, black people working hard, busting their ass gathering money and finally got their came true only to have it burnt down by their own people and destroyed in one night.

Does the Black community want to abolish the police?

Inside the Portland riots - this is what the media calls peaceful?

3 stories of black-owned businesses damaged in the riots

Black-Owned Businesses That Were Damaged and Looted

Affordable apartment project destroyed during night of protests

The 17 people who have died in the protests and riots so far

Chicago children killed by gun violence

In Wake Of Continued Gun Violence, Prominent Members Of Black Community Call On NYPD To Bring Back Anti-Crime Unit. Small crimes went down, but murders and shooting went up by 200%.

To rub the salt onto the wound, Mayor de Blasio deployed 27 polices guarding the BLM mural on the street (which is bigger than any of NYPD unit) instead of protecting the citizens.

To pour bleach all over the wound, these BLM activists and AOC insisted, that No! Defund more police! and making excuses for these murderers

Black Americans Want Police to Retain Local Presence, Gallup Poll, August 5, 2020

Say what? Americans (especially minorities) want more cops in their area? Yes. Check out Chicago’s latest news: Chicago Police: Violence drops after 2 new units rolled out. Having police presence, improving police training and bringing police and community closer, would deterred crimes and protected the minorities and those who are vulnerable, who knows!

I will now direct your attention to the Love Fest that is CHAZ (est. June 2020, rip. July 2020). Where if your stuff got stolen it’s an “unintentional donations”.

Born and raised, and buried, with all BLM’s Marxist loving ideas, safe and inclusive and funsies:

CHAZUpdates, Twitter

Welcome to Chaz!

The Economics of CHAZ / CHOP: Anarchy at its Finest

Video shows black-only segregated areas within CHAZ

Inside CHAZ (the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone)

CHAZ: where protesters/rioters actively practicing racism while preaching against racism, practicing police brutality while preaching against police brutality, leeching off America’s resources while wanting to burn the country to the ground.

CHAZ is the epitome of what BLM is advocating for. 

BLM wants segregation -- again, it is literally spelled out on their website. “boycott white businesses” and basically implying black goes to black businesses only. Recent stories of BLM activists “demanding” stores or else meet with force:  'We're not an enemy of the Black community' and Cuban community plans rally at NuLu restaurant in response to Black Lives Matter demands, and opinion analysis breakdown

BLM promotes violence as the automatic first response -- look. stop telling people to fight police

The 'Black Lives Matter Foundation' isn't the real BLM, explaining differences between the two organizations’ approach -- which, very nicely, also points out the problem with BLM. They’re not seeking for healing or cooperation, they’re all about breaking and burning stuffs down.

Robert Ray Barnes explains why he chooses the name “Black Lives Matter Foundation”

BLM creates more racial tension and encourages people to fake police-brutality/racism -- The biggest, most-hated face in BLM, Shaun King, is actively tearing up people’s lives. He accused many officers to be rapists, murderers, dramatizing claims, etc. He makes money off of getting people riled up. You can hate him, but if you’re telling me he doesn’t have any influence you’re very mistaken. His followers had sent death threats, showed up at people’s houses, doxxing people’s identity. People had been pushed to suicide, money loss, reputation ruined.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire Series breaks down all the viral videos claiming police brutality, and you will see that videos featuring a black person is more likely to be shared and be viral without waiting for the context

I’ll put forth the Jussie Smollett hoax, which, congrats Jussie! You just now make people waving away the attacks that actually happened due to racism! You’re so lacking in “being oppressed and being discriminated” in America, you’ve to import some from Nigeria!

I’ll also put forth the recent Bubba Wallace hoax. It is not a noose, Bubba Watson oops I mean Bubba Wallace (copyright belongs to Don Lemon). 15 FBI agents confirmed it. You can see it through video footages. Don’t be a drama queen, Bubba. (btw, i don’t know why BLM aren’t celebrating this? i mean, 15 FBI agents are immediately dispatched to deal with the claims. that’s how important this is. the feds will not hesitate to deal with discrimination)

Affiliated Organizations and BLM itself are cult-like, putting criminals on a pedestal, endorsing the party that is harmful to the black community

Assata’s Daughters, Breakdown on Assata Shakur and insights about the organization

BLM endorsed DNC and Joe Biden, gave money for the same party that created the KKK and ran on a platform of unity but are made up of elitists

99.64% BLM’s Defund The Police Donations Go To Joe Biden Campaign Via ActBlue

They are donating to DNC instead of pouring funds into black community at the times of crisises

Do Black Lives Matter Donations REALLY Go to Black Lives?

Based from America’s Top 20 Cities for Crime, and What Party Runs Them (spoiler alert, 18/20 are ran by Democrats), if you cross check it with the black population in each city, you will find that a lot of these cities have majority of black population and that Democrats had been in office for decades. If they’re helping the black community, they’re taking an awful long time.

BLM encourages a culture of blaming and perpetuating that black people are powerless, becoming a husk for over white supremacist and sexist.

the familiar “blaming it on the white men” game is played for practically every new political movement right now, and the “us minorities and ‘non-racist’ whites up against those straight rich white men’” and the concept of “white privilege” and being recycled over and over to make minorities feel more powerless

“White privilege” isn’t the biggest barrier, because if it is, please explain to me why and how did Madam C. J. Walker became the first black female millionaire in the early 1900s? Before Civil Rights Movement?

(White) people “check their privilege” and feel good about themselves for being “aware” of their privilege and therefore protect the minorities’ fragility. You’re admitting that just by being white you have more power than other race? That sounds very, very racist.

You have white people in protests actively suppressing other minorities’ voices, because apparently due to “white privilege” whites feel like they’re the only voice that would be valid

What it's like to be a Black officer policing Portland protests | Raw Interview (you can view the notable quotes here:  Black Portland cop slams White BLM protesters using 'same tactics that were used against my people')

'The most horrific displays of hate I've ever seen' | Portland police describe protests | full video (you can view notable quotes here: Portland police describe front lines of protests) // Analysis Breakdown

You’ve white people writing guides on how minorities should behave to get rid of the “whiteness” in them -- I cannot even find words for this. Notice how all these “whiteness” qualities are what holds a functioning society together? Hello, Asia existed long before European came along. The Indigenious people existed long before European came long. The assumption that other cultures/countries couldn’t have function without the European coming over and spreading their “whiteness” is extremely offensive. The fact that there are actual people out there who will follow this racist guide is crazy to me.

Whitesplaining white privilege

Poster defining “Whiteness” put forth by the National Museum of African American History & Culture. The poster had since been removed.

Robin DiAngelo, makes her fortune off of flexing her internal racism: The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility

So please tell me: is BLM the organization and the movement really support black lives or are they acting out? They care so much for black lives they are going to kill their own people to express their discontent for the system they are stuck under?

But, “Oh, it’s the rioters! Peaceful protesters do no such thing!”

Yeah, and you know which banner are those rioters are rioting under? BLM. And BLM is doing nothing to stop this. Some protesters tried to stop, but the official BLM pages? Nope. Crickets. They want this. Black neighbourhood burning to ash will make black people’s spirit will be worn down and black will be suck into this cesspool of blaming others -- again and again and again.

Yes, Portland is still rioting (Day 71, as of this writing). They had started moving into residential neighbourhoods, vandalizing and terrorizing the streets and are attempting to kill people

Portland mayor condemns rioters for 'attempting to commit murder'

You can view livestreams from protests/riots across the US at WOKE.NET. Noted the differences between the peaceful protesters (morning till midnight) and the rioters (midnight till morning).

Andy Ngo covered Antifa/BLM riots

Thomas Sowell, an amazing American thinker that no one seems to talk about, writes the book Dismantling America (2010), and in it he predicts the downfall of America. And beat-by-beat, oh my god, 2020 is when we see all of his predictions come true in the BLM’s playbook and tactics.

Thomas Sowell -- Dismantling America

BLM is a terrible, terrible organization -- and at this point, a terrible movement. I encourage you to also look into BLM’s history as well as what BLM is actually accomplishing and doing. They may be doing some goods, but I am seeing them killing black people, not elevating them to higher heights.

I’ll wrap this up quickly:

Not everybody out there support BLM;

Not everybody out there that doesn’t support BLM is a racist;

Not everybody out there that doesn’t support BLM doesn’t care about black lives;

Not everybody out there that support BLM also support the agenda they are pursuing;

Not everybody out there support BLM knows what are they supporting;

Not everybody out there support BLM really support black lives.

Some people are there genuinely because there is a problem, I’m not denying that. But you have to understand BLM isn’t what you believe it is. Take one very hard look at the movement you’re indirectly supporting. You’re under the BLM banner, but how much of it are you actually supporting? Are you just supporting because if you don’t support “Black Lives Matter” you don’t support black lives?

Alright. So why would I refuse to kneel because I don’t support BLM? How does that tie together?

As I stated in the beginning: kneeling on the anthem specifically to protest anti-racism and police brutality started with Colin Kappernick and the BLM movement. It is now associated with BLM. Just like the raised fist.

People like me who are opposing BLM views it as giving in, especially when we see things like this this all over the country --  people literally getting down on their knees in the middle of the streets for strangers, saying sorry for whatever the hell the mob demands because otherwise they will be call a racist, a bigot, or being beaten to death.

When I see not many people find this disturbing disturbed me. Some even gleefully says “Yes, that’s should be the future”.

Look: BLM cancels each own people for not falling in line. BLM local leaders had to stepped down because he feels like BLM isn’t a safe platform for him to fight for fair education for black children. 

Blacks that spoken out against BLM, or black conservatives, are branded “coon”, Uncle Tom, such as the case of Terry Crew, Candance Owens, Brandon Tatum, Anthony Brian Logan, Candance Owens, etc. (If you’re interested, Uncle Tom is a great documentary that documents the journey and hardships black conservatives experience)

Look around you.

People are bashing others, cancelling others, for not supporting BLM, for not kneeling, for not following the trends. In sports, players that chose not to kneel is called “not doing enough”, “racist”, hoax, etc.

Do you see how this is problematic? Why do they have to kneel, specifically? You can show solidarity in many ways. Why do they have to kneel? 

You’re free to support whatever you want, but don’t force other to follow the same thing.

BLM is a mob of mindless social justice warriors shoehorning a free society into their warped utopia where everybody speaks the same “right” thing and acts the same “right” way.

In 2020, it started out as “police brutality” and “George Floyd” but it is no longer that. I will not bend the knee for an organization that deploys unjust, racist approach while hiding behind a banner of “justice”. Antifa rioters are using BLM as a husk, and BLM encourages it, wanting it.

I will not kneel for an organization that is built on lies. I will not kneel for a hypocritical movement that has been murdering its own people, demanding outrageous deals and abolishing the system through force and violence.

Kneeling is pledging your support for BLM. And I cannot and will not support BLM the organization or the movement, especially when it’s becoming increasingly toxic and deranged.

I will die on my feet rather than live on my knees.

This doesn’t mean I’m not supporting the black community. But I will choose an alternative way to express my thoughts and sympathy -- because I’ll die sooner than following the way the mob and the terrible organization that is BLM dictates.

Kneeling is not the only way to express my opinion.

I know I’m not the only ones who see through this. For many people, athletes included, BLM is the reason why they are reluctant to kneel.

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02 | A (QUICK) ANALYSIS

» A look on the fans’ reaction « 

From @mitchmarner​, August 2, 2020

This message overall is a good representation of the situation and how people reacted to this. The criticism is respectful and on-point. The post contains both good messages that I agree with, and some subtle toxic undertone that I find problematic.

For context, this post is regarding NHL.

All the unhighlighted words are what I agreed with. Highlighted words are what I have some opinions on.

Let’s go through this.

       1. “White players should be kneeling”

first of all, just a small thing, but I’m curious as to why only the “white” players are under pressure here. I find it’s strange that the post has to specified the race and what they should do. Hockey players are mostly white -- okay, sure. But I don’t get the emphasis on skin colour? I’m still puzzled why would you put pressure on white people. Because you’re white, you must do as we said and support us no matter what. In the hockey world, it’s easier to say whites have more power. But what about in the NBA, a black-dominated field? Jonathan Isaac, a black guy, refused to kneel and got grilled for it. Instead of specifying race, why not just use “players”? Anybody is welcomed to join in the movement.

You may think I’m being nitpicking over some words, but this is how media uses it to rile people. By putting races in it, they take out the actual humanity, making everything about racial identity and race politics. Ie. which headlines would make you be more angry? “Girl accuses classmates of cutting off her dreadlocks” or “Black girl accuses white classmates of cutting off her dreadlocks” (headline from CBS News, which had changed after the story came out as false).

A recent letter of a journalist from MSNBC reveals how cancerous are the current world is going, and how the media is exploiting it -- racial tension is just one of the facet they can exploit.

I also find the usage of “should” somewhat demanding, indicated obligation and duty. Again, people can say this kneeling is for human rights -- but as I pointed out in both part 1 and part 2, with the modern cancel culture and the herd thinking and BLM’s violence, there will be interpretation of kneeling as in bending the knee to BLM or the angry mob. Why not say “could”? Because, yes, there could be more players out there supporting this cause. They choose not to, and they should be able to choose. This is a free country. They do not have to support something if they don’t agree with it, and they also do not have to support it in a particular way if they agree with it.

        2. Unhighlighted, but similar thing: “If you, like me, are white, we should focus on Ryan and [his] bravery”

Again, why are only white people being pressured into doing the right thing? I’m Asian, not white. So I don’t have to applaud Ryan Reaves’s bravery for standing up (or kneeling down) to his belief, right? We, as a community or fans, should all applaud when people choose to stand up for their belief.

You’ll also spy this subtle “white privilege” thinking hiding in this sentence -- “because we’re white, our voice is more valid and therefore we are the only people others will listen to”

         3. “Many of his teammates [refused] to kneel with him”

I agree you can criticize their lack of support, but demanding people to kneel to show support, without considering why they refused to kneel is ignoring the diversity in thinking or someone’s personal rationale. 

Other players could absolutely have supported Ryan, but they do not “have to kneel” to show it explicitly -- the same way family members don’t have to shower each other with grand gestures in public.

         4. “Make it about white players who should’ve done this bare minimum action from the start comes off weird”

So. Guilt-trip them into submission? If every white player kneel from hereon, racism will definitely be solved in the league.

You know, this reminds me of the now infamous #BlackoutTuesday. Everybody races to post a black square to prove they are not racist (“bare minimum action”, right?), and then that ended up backfiring to the cause. This time, everybody kneel to prove they are not racist (again, “bare minimum action”). Perhaps those that are yelling at all athletes to kneel wouldn’t see this right away, but very soon at some point when (not if) kneeling will be the norm, everybody completes this “bare minimum action” that actually doesn’t solve anything or potentially backfires hard, racism still remains. The platform that provides these athletes power and spotlights may be shrinking, and sports become another divisive tool instead of bringing people together. 

This is a very cult-like thinking to demand everybody to behave and act the same way you want/expect them to act. Yes, we should all take parts in minimizing racism. But, no, we do not have to kneel to solve racism -- especially if we can see that the action doesn’t necessarily solve racism, only a gesture; especially if we don’t agree with the gesture.

I’ll go out on a limb and predict that in 2024, there will be another wave of riots, another wave of “enough is enough” and a new trend to commemorate death due to police brutality -- instead of kneeling, everybody is now bowing down with their face to the ground.

Again, I agree with most of the message. However, I think it’s important to see how some other people are interpreting the same messages and pick apart the problems that is implied within the thinking. 

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03 | SOME PREDICTIONS

This is a fun section where I’ll try to read where the situation with the “kneeling” is going to go. Feel free to skip to the end, but if you enjoy musing about the future then stay with me.

Kneeling has very high probability of becoming a tradition. The rating will continue to go down the tubes for the wokest leagues (at least from a current stand point). I don’t know if it will continue to stay low in the future.

Leagues that orchestrated mass-kneeling are probably banking on the fans deserting them will come back eventually (probably around 2021 or 2022) and ignore the kneeling, once the creeping normality settles in. Which, pretty much kind of defeat the purpose of kneeling and raising awareness, in my opinion. But, it’s not like kneeling is effective now so whatever, I guess. 

Since NFL, NBA and MBL have way bigger budget and audience than NHL, those big leagues/teams could probably afford losing money for 1-2 years. Although if the owner deemed it’s killing the business they will quickly say Shove it.

I think NHL’s strapped budget is the one of the main reason why they are the only “opinion-open” league, ie. don’t force mass-kneeling but agree to facilitate and protect players that choose to kneel. If they had a bigger budget, things might have look different.

There is a very high probability that all leagues will adopt NFL’s way, “Stand for the anthem or Stay in the Locker Room”. This way, those that supports kneeling will be okay because the players are still technically still protesting/kneeling, and those that opposes kneeling or don’t want to be preached politics while they are looking for entertainment will not be ticked off.

A possibility that I think may be possible, albeit I don’t know if it will happen: all leagues stopped kneeling once this wave of wokeness swept over. There will be instances of players kneeling, but there won’t be mass-kneeling like what MBL and NBA are doing.

There is also a tiny chance that leagues/players will continue to orchestrated mass-kneeling and died with their ideologies rather than backtrack and change.��

Prime example: LeBron James. LeBron James and his ego don’t take bruising well.

Colin Kappernick made more money being an activist than being a quarterback -- he was a terrible quarterback if you look at his number (How Good Was Colin Kaepernick When He Left the NFL in 2017?). But, that aside. Kappernick got offered some million dollar documentary and book deals (from Disney) for his spoiled “struggle” and “hardship”. From a legal and financial and medical viewpoint, I doubt Kappernick is going to go back into NFL and will wring this BLM activist thing for all that its worth. NFL careers are often short, while being an activist allows Kappernick to preach to the mass while monetizing his self-made misery.

Anyhow: cancel culture is very vicious, and the media amplified the most extreme voices. The kneeling culture will drag itself to the graves, believe me.

Ryan Reaves won’t get in trouble with his kneeling (from the business and the legal side. I don’t know about his knee). Full disclosure that I’m not well-versed with all the business and money and contract and only mildly familiar with US law. I applaud Ryan for kneeling down for a cause he believes and took risks with his knee (I’d assume he consulted his doctor first, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt). But, I don’t think Ryan financially risked anything.

According to CapFriendly, VGK just signed Reaves to a contract 2-year extention in June 18, 2020. This shows that they are interested in keeping him around. 

Logically speaking, Ryan is a great player and contributes greatly to VGK organization. Benching/trading him is suicidal, especially while VGK has consistently been a strong team since its infancy in 2017 and Ryan seems to be a part of the cornerstone. Ryan will probably stay with VGK until 2022 when his contract ends. 

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04 | CLOSING WORDS

Am I implying that you can’t criticize athletes? No.

Am I defending these athletes? Not necessarily.

These athletes can absolutely do more than just posting pictures on IG and spewing some cookie cutter words, they can absolutely be more supportive of their friends. They can do more. They deserve to be criticize for not doing more.

However, I do not agree with this “you have to kneel” pressure. This is a free country, where you have the freedom of speech, freedom of thoughts, freedom of religious. We have the freedom to criticize people, but they also have the freedom to not listen to it. 

Unlike the government where there is a duty to her citizens to consider her citizens’ wishes, these athletes are strangers and owe no obligations. It is true that sports had always have political aspects to it, but that there are some people that definitely would like to remain apolitical during their career. Michael Jordan remains apolitical until his retirement. Or James Harden, who was described as not involving in politics whatsoever and got dragged through the mud for accidentally wearing a Blue Lives Matter mask while his colleagues and NBA condone BLM.

Some athletes view “being a player” or a star comes with the burden of constantly being on your job 24/7. Stats do show that people are now more scared to disclose their political thoughts, and the further left one’s views, the more one believes they’re protected. 

For someone who is political, kneeling started as a political statement, a symbol of cowardice, and it remained as one, especially considering how many people are tripping over their feet to kneel to sooth the mob. For someone who isn’t political, kneeling may be contradicting to their personal beliefs.

I’ve been stewing on this particular issue for some times, and the kneeling don’t make headlines as much anymore, but I figured this should be addressed regardless. I am concerned about the rise of cancel culture, the radical conformism, and the intolerable thinking rampaging in the US and Canada. Forcing people to kneel to just a late symptoms of what potentially can be the future if this cult-like behaviour is not call out or stop.

You may or may not agree with all the points, and that is OK. Again, this is not a whole list that details all the thoughts out there. This is based on a lot from myself, what I observed, what I scoped out from news. The athletes may have other reasons I haven’t covered. That being said, my point still stand: they have a reason for not kneeling.

Please realize that there are more than one way to view things, especially in a climate where everybody is forced to be political. The most important takeaway here are:

1) kneeling is not the only way to raise awareness;

2) people do not have to kneel to show that they support black lives.

#i promised i'm not gonna be political on tumblr but oops #blm #we got to talk about it #let's get into this #talk to the other side #nfl #nhl #nba #mbl #black lies matter #kneeling #us #us politics #canada #hockey #basketball #football #american football #baseball